The Daughter That Could Have Been
by KenadiFaith04
Summary: Chapter 8 is up! Melinda came from the past, and she was on a mission...and it's been completed. How will Piper save her sons now? Please Read and Review!
1. The Sisters' Spell

"There's something you're not telling us. What is it?" demanded Phoebe, following Chris into the kitchen, where Piper was washing the dishes.  
  
"There's nothing, Phoebe. All you should be focused on is Wyatt," replied Chris, pulling out a chair and sitting down.  
  
"Chris, whatever it is, you can tell us," Piper said, drying her hands and sitting next to him.  
  
"Mom! There's nothing, okay? I'm going to go, I need some sleep." Chris yawned and orbed out of the kitchen.  
  
Not three seconds later, Leo orbed in. "You know he is still hiding something."  
  
"Yeah, I know. I wish he would just tell us the truth and get it over with," sighed Piper, getting up.  
  
Suddenly, Phoebe piped up. "I've got an idea! Follow me!"  
  
"Great," grumbled Piper, rolling her eyes. She followed Phoebe out of the kitchen and up into the attic.  
  
"What are you doing, Phoebes?"  
  
Phoebe was already madly flipping through the Book of Shadows. "The truth spell..."  
  
"What?"  
  
"The truth spell. For twenty-four hours, no one will be able to lie to us even if they want to," replied Phoebe, still flipping pages.  
  
"Phoebes, are you sure that's a good idea?" asked Paige, who had just entered the attic. Leo followed.  
  
"What's going on?" he inquired.  
  
"We're going to cast a truth spell to find out exactly what Chris is hiding," said Phoebe. "Ha!" she exclaimed. "Found it!"  
  
"Remember what happened last time Prue used that spell?" said Leo.  
  
"And when I did?" added Paige.  
  
"Things can backfire," said Leo. "Are you sure you want to do this? Maybe there's a reason he's not sharing. Sometimes the truth isn't always what we want to hear."  
  
"Leo's right. Finding out your boyfriend is married isn't exactly joyful news."  
  
"Or that he'll leave you once he finds out you're a witch," added Piper.  
  
"So do we cast it or not? How badly do we want to know?" inquired Piper.  
  
Phoebe, Paige, and Piper exchanged looks. Nobody had to say anything. They knew what they had to do.  
  
For those who want the Truth revealed  
  
Open Hearts and Secrets unsealed.  
From now until it's now again  
After which the Memories end.  
Those who are in this House  
Will hear the Truth from the Others' Mouths. 


	2. Chris' Secret

Paige opened her eyes. "Did it work?"  
"I don't know. Phoebe, are you the one who took my red halter top?"  
"N-n-n-yes..." mumbled Phoebe, quickly covering her mouth. Piper glared. "I guess it worked," Phoebe added sheepishly.  
"CHRIS!" shouted Piper.  
A rather tired looking Chris orbed into the attic. "What now?" he yawned.  
"Are you hiding something from us?" inquired Phoebe.  
"Yes," replied Chris. He looked startled. "Oops."  
"Are you really here to protect Wyatt?" asked Leo.  
"No."  
"You liar! You lied about protecting your brother?" Piper was beginning to get angry.  
"No I am here to protect Prue, not Wyatt. "Prue?" exclaimed Paige and Phoebe together. "How –"started Phoebe, but Leo interrupted.  
"Then who –"he said, but he was interrupted by Piper.  
"Are you even our son?" she demanded.  
"Yes, I am."  
Leo tried again. "Who are you here to protect?"  
"My sister."  
Piper looked at Leo, and Leo looked at Chris.  
The room became hushed. "I have a third child?" said Piper quietly.  
By this time, Chris had begun to realize he was under a spell. "No," he flatly replied. "What did you do to me?"  
"It's a truth spell," blurted Paige. She looked around. Suddenly, everyone realized that for the next twenty-four hours, none of them would be able to tell a lie.  
"I can't believe this! You all are putting yourselves in danger! You can't mess with the future like this. Don't ask me any more questions." He began to ramble. "I came back to protect Prue, and that's what I intend to do." He tried to orb out, but Phoebe stopped him.  
"Prue's dead Chris. I don't understand what you mean."  
Chris looked annoyed. "Not your sister Prue. Your niece Prue. Prudence Melinda."  
"Prudence Melinda?" Paige looked puzzled.  
Piper explained. "We all assumed that Wyatt was a girl. That was going to be her name."  
"What about Wyatt?" Paige inquired.  
It was Chris's turn to explain. "Prue is a very powerful witch, more powerful than the Charmed Ones combined. Halliwell girls are born witches. Halliwell boys are mortal. Unless, of course, their father was a Whitelighter."  
"Keep going," said Piper.  
"Wyatt was supposed to be a girl," he continued.  
Silence.  
"In a year or two, someone or something is going to come and take Wyatt. A demon, or a warlock maybe." He paused. "I don't know who. But I do know what Wyatt is supposed to be Prudence Melinda Halliwell."  
Paige looked as confused as ever. "So why isn't he?"  
"Simple. Someone or something turned him into a boy. They didn't count on him having powers from the womb. Think about it. If you were a demon and a child threatened your very existence, wouldn't you be looking for a way to stop her? I guess that by changing her into a boy, they figured her powers would be bound and she would be easier to turn."  
"But why not just leave him alone then? Why are they after my baby?" Piper was pissed by now.  
"Because someone with that much potential power can't just be left running around. Whoever did this wants her on their side. They will take him; show him who he is and what he can do..." his voice trailed off. Then he added, "He will destroy you. You will lose, in the end, to your own son." 


	3. Paige's Potion

Phoebe awoke to the sound of things exploding in the attic.  
  
"Paige!"  
  
"What?"  
  
Phoebe ran up the stairs. "What are you doing now?"  
  
"I'm not sure. I woke up early this morning and couldn't go back to sleep, so I decided to  
  
work on a potion that will turn Wyatt into a girl."  
  
"What? You're crazy. We can't do that. Can we?" Phoebe thought about this a moment,  
  
then added, "We should talk to Piper and Leo about this first, shouldn't we?"  
  
Paige stood back as she threw more ingredients into the cauldron, and waved away the  
  
puff of pink smoke the erupted from it. "Maybe."  
  
"Maybe what?" Chris orbed in to the explosions coming from upstairs.  
  
"Maybe nothing," replied Phoebe, but soon found that the truth spell hadn't worn off  
  
from the night before, and blurted, "Maybe we should talk to Piper and Leo about making  
  
a potion that will turn Wyatt into Prue.  
  
Paige rolled her eyes. "This truth spell stuff's just peachy, ain't it?"  
  
"There are demons out there that could attack at any moment, and you're up here  
  
concocting potions to turn my brother into a girl?"  
  
"Well it makes sense, doesn't it?" said Phoebe. "If Wyatt becomes the girl he's supposed  
  
to be, the demons won't be able to take him...will they? He...she...whatever...will be  
  
stronger as Prudence Melinda, right?"  
  
"I don't know," replied Chris. "But even the Elders thought he was going to be a girl.  
  
This wasn't a simple mistake. Someone deliberately made things this way, and as I told  
  
you before, they will take him, and the world as we know it, will end. I've been there. It's  
  
a fiery hellhole...with no Charmed Ones."  
  
He let this last comment sink in, then continued, "No Power of Three, no Phoebe, no  
  
Paige, no Piper to save the world. So you can sit here and think of ways to change Wyatt  
  
back, or you can get out there and kick some demon ass. Have it your way." He opened  
  
the attic door and stomped down the stairs.  
  
Paige looked at her sister. "Well, he's telling the truth. We know that much."  
  
"I'm going to go talk to Piper. Are you about finished there?"  
  
"I believe so." She took a small flask and filled it with the rose colored liquid. "Should  
  
we try it on Wyatt?"  
  
"What if it kills him?"  
  
"Then the world will probably be better off. The bastard kills his aunts and his own  
  
mother. Think of the greater good, Phoebe."  
  
Phoebe sighed. "Alright. Should I tell Piper?"  
  
"Knowing Piper, she'd wring your neck before she let you touch her baby. I think not. I'll  
  
talk to Leo. You give this to Wyatt." She orbed out.  
  
"Why me?" groaned Phoebe as she ambled down the stairs and sat by Wyatt's playpen.  
  
Wyatt was happily chewing on one of his toys.  
  
"Hey, little guy. Forgive me if this goes wrong..." Phoebe stood up and tossed the flask  
  
into the playpen. She expected to hear an explosion and see a cloud of smoke, and in her  
  
mind, she imagined what Prue would look like, sitting in the playpen in the very spot  
  
Wyatt had been only seconds before.  
  
Instead, she heard a soft thump and the shattering of glass.  
  
Phoebe opened her eyes. She scanned the room for the source of the sound. Her  
  
eyes came to rest on the floor in front of the playpen, where pink liquid was oozing out  
  
from the broken flask. She raised her eyes a little more to see Wyatt staring back at her,  
  
his force field up.  
  
"Paige! You might want to come look at this!"  
  
Paige orbed in. "Did it w—"but stopped short when she saw the force field. She  
  
immediately knew what had happened.  
  
"Wyatt only uses his force field against evil, I don't understand," said Phoebe.  
  
"What was that?" Piper yelled down the stairs.  
  
"Oh great," mumbled Paige. "Now we get to deal with the mother bear." 


	4. Piper's Daughter

"Phoebe? Paige? What's going on?" Piper crept down the stairs and peered at her  
  
sisters. Her eyes shifted from Phoebe to Paige to Wyatt, and finally to the broken flask.  
  
Wyatt gurgled at the sight of his mother and immediately, his shield disappeared. Piper  
  
scooped him up and placed him on her hip. "What the hell are you doing?"  
  
Phoebe and Paige looked at each other. They both knew the truth spell still had several  
  
hours till it wore off.  
  
"Well...I couldn't sleep this morning, so I decided to try to make a potion to turn Wyatt  
  
into the girl he was supposed to be," began Paige.  
  
Before Piper could react, Phoebe blurted, "I tried to use it on him, but he used his shield  
  
against it. Piper, there's something wrong here."  
  
Piper exploded. "You WHAT? Phoebe, he probably thought you were trying to kill him?  
  
Did you ever think about that? He was probably scared...what if your little pink potion  
  
had gone wrong? Especially since you made it, Paige! You could have turned him into a  
  
horny toad or something! You're idiots! You're insane! You're careless!"  
  
"We're you're sisters," insisted Paige. "We want nothing more than for you and Wyatt to  
  
be happy. But that won't happen until we know who's after him. And we thought we  
  
would be making things right. Like Chris and Leo said, even the Elders expected a girl."  
  
Piper glared at her. "And what if it really had killed him?" she growled.  
  
Phoebe tattled on her sister. "Well, Paige said that the world would be better off if it did."  
  
Piper said nothing. Instead, she set Wyatt down in his playpen. Then she turned to her  
  
sisters, her face expressionless. Piper raised her hands and blew up the lamp behind them.  
  
Then she collected her son and quietly walked upstairs.  
  
"Well that went better than expected," said Phoebe.  
  
Paige smacked her sister on the arm.  
  
"Ow!"  
  
"The world would be better off, eh?"  
  
Phoebe shrunk back to avoid another blow. "Truth spell, truth spell!"  
  
Suddenly, Paige was snatched from behind. And hand stifled her squeals, and a woman's  
  
voice whispered in her ear. "Give me the baby."  
  
Phoebe opened her mouth to call for Piper, but a powerful blow from the woman's hand  
  
sent her sprawling.  
  
The woman threw Paige to the ground and placed a black, stiletto heeled boot on her  
  
chest, pinning her. Paige looked up to see a woman clad in black and red leather. Her  
  
thick, wavy hair was chestnut brown, and it was pulled back in a tight ponytail that hung  
  
to her mid-back. Paige thought her attacker looked faintly familiar, but her first priority  
  
was escaping, not picking her brain to figure out who this mysterious woman was.  
  
Phoebe put her hand to her head and felt something warm and sticky. She didn't dare get  
  
up again, for fear of another attack by the leather-clad woman. She couldn't shake the  
  
feeling that she'd seen this girl before.  
  
"The baby," repeated the girl. "Give him to me and I won't hurt you." Her voice was  
  
calm, but stern and demanding. The sisters just stared at her, stunned, and confused. They  
  
caught each other's eye and together yelled for Chris.  
  
The woman kicked Paige hard in the stomach. Phoebe jumped up, but the woman sent  
  
her sprawling again without so much as blink of an eye.  
  
Piper and Chris entered the room at the same time. The woman turned at the sound of  
  
Piper's boots on the stairs, just enough time to give Chris the chance to attack her. He  
  
launched himself at her, catching her off-guard and knocking her to the ground,  
  
freeing Paige.  
  
As Chris pinned her to the ground, the woman tried desperately to turn her face away  
  
from him. Grabbing her by the hair, he wrenched her head forward and planned on  
  
demanding, "Who are you?"  
  
Instead, a flood of thoughts filled his mind, which really weren't thoughts at all; they  
  
were memories. Memories of a young, brown-eyed girl, stealing his toys and throwing  
  
food at him. Memories of her high-school graduation and him crying as she moved out of  
  
the Manor. He remembered missing and worrying about her, only to have his greatest  
  
fears come to life.  
  
"Mel," whispered Chris, as the woman struggled to get up. He held her down for a few  
  
more seconds, not knowing what to do, and she orbed out from  
  
underneath him. As Chris fell the few inches to the ground, he noticed it was a dark orb.  
  
Where did she acquire a dark orb, he wondered.  
  
In the few second this took place, Paige picked herself up off the ground and ran to  
  
Phoebe. She placed her hands over Phoebe's bleeding head and healed her. When she  
  
turned her attention back to Chris, the woman had disappeared.  
  
"What the hell was that all about?" said Piper.  
  
"That was Melinda." Goddamn Truth Spell, thought Chris.  
  
"That was who?" Paige asked. "You mean Prudence Melinda?"  
  
"Exactly."  
  
"How do you know that?" asked Piper.  
  
"I saw it when I touched her, like a premonition. Only they were memories."  
  
Phoebe shook her head. "I don't understand. That means we succeed in changing Wyatt.  
  
Do you realize that?" She was answered by nodding heads. "But why would she want to  
  
come back for him?" 


	5. Wyatt's Future

"She IS Wyatt, isn't she?" Paige asked, sitting down and looking to Chris for an answer.  
  
"No, she's Prudence Melinda. Well, yes, she's Wyatt...depends on how you look at it."  
  
"I'm so confused!" Exasperated, Paige ran her hands through her hair.  
  
"I don't know why she'd come back for him though. I'm just as confused as you are,  
  
Paige," said Chris.  
  
"She must have been the one who turned him into a boy," said Phoebe.  
  
Piper looked confused now too. "Why the hell would she want to do that?"  
  
Chris answered her question. "Because she probably counted on her powers being bound  
  
that way, like I said. Think about it: if her one-year-old self was powerless it would  
  
almost guarantee that she could take him and make sure he turned out exactly as she  
  
wanted him to. My guess is she's on a quest to rule the underworld."  
  
"Who's not?" snorted Piper.  
  
"We should make a vanquishing potion, just to be safe," said Paige.  
  
Chris gave Paige a sharp look. "You would vanquish your own niece?"  
  
"She wouldn't hesitate to kill any of us."  
  
"True..." Chris's voice trailed off.  
  
The room was silent for a minute until Phoebe spoke. "She's evil. Any way you look at it,  
  
she's evil. We thought if we changed him...her...whatever...back into a girl, she would  
  
be good. No such luck. It seems no matter what happens, Mel is destined to be evil."  
  
"Not only that, but Queen of the Underworld at the rate things are going," said Piper.  
  
"You're not giving up, are you?" inquired Chris.  
  
"No, Chris, I'm not giving up," Piper said as she lifted her son into her arms. "I'm just  
  
beginning to realize we may not have a choice. We can't change fate."  
  
"But what if your fate is to save your daughter? Did you ever think about that? What if  
  
fate's on our side?" said Chris.  
  
Piper was about to argue, but before she could open her mouth, Wyatt vanished from  
  
her arms in a dark orb.  
  
"She's here!" shouted Chris, as a fireball shot past his head.  
  
The woman appeared behind him, raised her hand, and everyone in the room, save for  
  
Chris, suddenly froze. Chris slowly looked around the room, then turned to face the  
  
woman. She held Wyatt in her arms. His shield was not up, and he seemed perfectly  
  
happy.  
  
"If you knew what was good for you, you'd give up now," Melinda told him. "You've  
  
seen what happens, you know I win."  
  
"Where are you taking Wyatt?" Chris demanded.  
  
Melinda blankly stared at him, then answered, "Might as well tell you. You'll be dead in  
  
a few minutes anyway." She paused, adjusted Wyatt in her arms, and then continued. "I  
  
have two friends...demons. They want a child. I promised them they could raise Wyatt,  
  
on the condition that they raise him right. I'll give them the spell and the potion to make  
  
him a girl again, and then I'll return to the future. When she is twenty- three, she will  
  
rise to power and become your queen."  
  
"Why do you have to take him? You can't accomplish that on your own?" said Chris,  
  
sarcastically.  
  
"Actually, no, I can't, because of YOU. Until YOU came back, I was this close to  
  
having the entire underworld in my power. Then one day, I find myself fighting for the  
  
greater good. So I ask myself, 'What's wrong with this picture?' I don't know how I  
  
remembered and no one else did, but as time went on, I slowly put the pieces together,  
  
and realized what I had to do. I had to undo YOUR mistakes."  
  
"I'm not making a mistake," insisted Chris.  
  
A fireball appeared in his sister's free hand. "You know what? I'm tired of your crap." 


	6. Melinda's Mission

Before Chris could react, Mel launched the fireball across the room. The instant it left her  
  
hand, Piper unfroze. It was a natural reaction for her to quickly blow up the fireball just  
  
before it hit Chris. Suddenly, she realized that people weren't in the same spot they were  
  
a second before.  
  
"What the hell is going on here?" shouted Piper, ramming her hands onto her hips, but no  
  
one had to answer her question. She figured it out as soon as she saw her firstborn son in  
  
Melinda's arms.  
  
"Hi Mom," said Melinda. Then, flashing a cheesy grin, she orbed out.  
  
"Chris! How did she do that?" Piper demanded, realizing her sisters were still frozen.  
  
"She's pretty damn powerful. That's all I can say."  
  
"She froze me!" Piper was pissed. "Did she tell you anything? How long was I frozen?  
  
Arrrgh!" She flung her hand towards her sisters and unfroze them. They looked just as  
  
confused as Piper had. Phoebe looked to Paige, who just shrugged her shoulders and  
  
motioned for her sister to come closer to her. Phoebe did so.  
  
"You were frozen for about ten minutes," said Chris. Then he told her everything Mel  
  
had said to him.  
  
"Do you think she was telling the truth?" Piper asked.  
  
"Most likely. She planned on killing me anyway. She wouldn't have any reason to  
  
lie. Look at the bright side. You unfroze yourself."  
  
"How is that the bright side?" Piper inquired, squinting her eyes.  
  
"Because that means we might have a chance. She's your daughter, which means you  
  
obviously understand how her abilities work. Probably more so than she does. She  
  
takes after you," Chris grinned.  
  
"Not funny. But you have a point." Piper looked to her sisters, who suddenly bolted up  
  
the stairs. "And just where are you off to in such a hurry?"  
  
Paige turned around so fast that she lost her footing. She grabbed for the  
  
railing, missed, and instead grabbed Phoebe. They both went tumbling down the stairs.  
  
"Ow!" cried Phoebe.  
  
Paige groaned. Chris stifled a laugh.  
  
Picking herself up off the floor, Paige said, "While you two were lost in your own  
  
conversation, Phoebe and I were writing a spell to kill that nasty little bitch."  
  
"A spell?" asked Piper.  
  
"We figure a spell and a vanquishing potion might do it," explained Phoebe.  
  
"She's right," added Chris. "Mel said that a spell and a potion would change Wyatt back  
  
into a girl. A spell and a potion could probably kill her, too."  
  
"Exactly," said Paige.  
  
"She wore a vile around her neck. I'll be you anything that's the potion that she plans to  
  
use on Wyatt," continued Chris. "Something like that is too precious to leave lying  
  
around. She'd keep it on her." He stood up. "First, we make a spell and a vanquishing  
  
potion. Then, we find her, freeze her, steal the potion and the spell, kill her, and turn  
  
Wyatt back into a girl."  
  
Paige raised her eyebrows. "Just like that?"  
  
"That easy, eh?" said Phoebe.  
  
Chris shrugged. "It's worth a shot."  
  
Suddenly, Piper screamed. "Oh my God!"  
  
"What?" asked Chris and Paige at the same time.  
  
"Wyatt! She took Wyatt! When she orbed out, she had Wyatt!"  
  
Chris ran to his mother and tried to get her to sit down. "Mom, he's safe. Think about it.  
  
She won't turn him into a girl until she's positive I'm dead. I'm sure of that. She  
  
wouldn't want to risk me taking him back after she's changed him. She won't kill him  
  
because that would literally be suicide. He's safe, I promise. She may be evil, but she's  
  
not heartless."  
  
Piper sat down, took a deep breath, and sighed.. "Alright. You have a point. But we need  
  
to find her as soon as possible."  
  
"Piper's right. We can't just wait for her to attack again," said Phoebe.  
  
"She wants me dead. She'll return before nightfall," said Chris.  
  
"How do you know?" asked Paige.  
  
"Because she's my sister, and she's one of the most impatient people I've ever met."  
  
Chris grinned.  
  
"Then we wait," said Piper. 


	7. Phoebe's Mistake

She's after Chris now, we're positive of that. She seems to rather impatient to kill him.  
  
She'll head straight for his room when she comes back," Phoebe said when it began to  
  
get dark.  
  
"She's right," said Chris. "I'll stay awake tonight. She isn't past incinerating me while I  
  
sleep, I'm sure of that."  
  
None of the sisters went to bed that night. They all sat watch around the Manor.  
  
They figured that Chris' room was probably the first place Melinda would go, but just in  
  
case, the sisters spread themselves around the house. Paige guarded the  
  
doorway of Chris' room, while Piper sat on the stairs, and Phoebe in the kitchen.  
  
However, the Charmed Ones were wrong. Melinda did return, but this time, she wasn't  
  
after Chris.  
  
She orbed silently into the Manor shortly after the sun dropped behind the horizon.  
  
But instead of throwing fireballs, as the Charmed Ones expected, she entered quietly into  
  
the attic. She remembered this place well, with its organized clutter and its family  
  
heirlooms. Most of all, she remembered the Book of Shadows.  
  
She walked towards the Book, reaching her hand towards it, but suddenly stopped. She  
  
remembered that the Book would not allow evil to touch it. Wyatt hadn't considered her  
  
evil...but what if the Book did? She took a deep breath and decided she had to risk it. She  
  
placed both hands over the pages. So far, so good. She lowered them, let them rest there a  
  
moment, and then wrapped her slim fingers around the cover. She smiled to herself with  
  
satisfaction.  
  
"Let's see the Charmed Ones stop me without their precious Book," she mumbled. "No  
  
spells, no potions. Have fun girls." She slammed the Book shut and orbed out with it  
  
held tightly to her chest.  
  
A strange sound from the attic roused Phoebe from her hiding place. She got up and  
  
quietly ran up the stairs.  
  
She opened the attic door and took a deep breath. She scanned the room. No one was  
  
there, and if they were, they were very good at hiding. She was about to relax when she  
  
realized something was missing.  
  
"Chris! Piper! Paige!"  
  
Three bodies scrambled into the attic at Phoebe's cry.  
  
"What is it? Is she here?" asked Piper.  
  
"No, but she was. She took the Book of Shadows."  
  
The room was silent.  
  
Chris was the first to speak. "This is a problem."  
  
"WHAT? Are you loopy?" exclaimed Piper. "Arrrgh! Of course this is a problem!  
  
This is a BIG problem!!"  
  
Suddenly, a slim arm wrapped itself around Chris' neck and held tight. He felt a sharp  
  
pain in his back as his sister's knee slammed against him. He fell to the ground, and Mel  
  
pinned him with a stiletto heel.  
  
"Wow, Phoebe. I'm amazed you actually fell for my little trap. Oh, this is exciting." She  
  
looked to the Charmed Ones, who didn't dare move. She smiled. "I hate to waste your  
  
time. I promise to be quick." A fireball formed in each hand, but her hand was as far as  
  
they got.  
  
Piper froze Melinda. It took her three tries, but she did it. Chris orbed out from  
  
underneath her. Immediately, the sisters knew what the had to do. Paige grabbed the flask  
  
and gave it a hard tug, breaking the cord. There was a piece of paper wrapped around it.  
  
She nodded to Phoebe, who grabbed the crystals and placed them around Melinda. "I  
  
hope this works," she said.  
  
Suddenly, all three sisters were thrown across the room and into the wall. Chris turned to  
  
look at Melinda, who was still frozen, and trapped inside the crystals. A look of utter  
  
confusion fell over his face.  
  
Piper, Paige, and Phoebe pulled themselves up off the ground. They didn't understand  
  
what had just happened. They, too, saw that Melinda was still frozen.  
  
"Where did that come from?" whispered Phoebe.  
  
Suddenly, Melinda disappeared. She didn't orb, she didn't shimmer, and she was still  
  
frozen. She simply disappeared.  
  
"What the hell is going on?" Piper whispered.  
  
The next few seconds seemed to go by in slow motion. The sisters watched as a fireball  
  
flew across the room, straight towards Chris. Piper was too stunned by what she saw next  
  
to stop it.  
  
Melinda stood in the doorway, the Book in one hand, Wyatt at her feet. The sisters  
  
realized simultaneously that the woman Piper had frozen in the corner wasn't Melinda  
  
at all. She was an astroprojection.  
  
Chris' screams filled Manor as the fireball incinerated him. 


	8. A Mother's Defeat

"PRUDENCE! YOU BITCH!" cried Piper, and Melinda suddenly was swallowed by  
  
flames. Her screams drowned out the horrified cries that came from her aunts.  
  
In the silence that followed, Piper mumbled, without emotion, "Well...that was a lot  
  
easier than a vanquishing potion."  
  
Nobody could say anything more. The Charmed ones just stared at the pile of ashes that  
  
seconds before had been Chris, and the one next to it that used to be his sister.  
  
"Is she...gone?" asked Phoebe.  
  
"I...I don't know. I think...so," mumbles Piper.  
  
The sisters hugged one other and began to cry silently.  
  
Paige broke the moment. "How did you do that?"  
  
"I...I have no idea. I just had so much emotion in me, I was so horrified, so pissed off...I  
  
just killed my daughter." She flopped into a chair.  
  
"No, you didn't Piper. She's sitting over there," said Phoebe.  
  
Wyatt was still sitting in the doorway, looking scared and confused. Without speaking,  
  
Piper went to him and embraced the poor child. She then placed him on the floor between  
  
the piles of ash. Paige handed the potion to Phoebe, and after carefully removing it from  
  
the bottle, she opened the piece of paper. She looked it over, thought for a moment, and,  
  
picking up a pencil, she wrote a few things on it.  
  
"What are you doing that for?" asked Phoebe.  
  
"Making changes. If we use this spell, that's who he'll become," she said, nodding  
  
toward the ashes.  
  
"Then how do we know this potion will work?" asked Piper.  
  
"We don't," said Phoebe. "But we have to try.  
  
She and Piper moved closer to Paige as they read the spell together.  
  
Take him back from whence he came, Truth unveiled to end the game. See who really lies inside, The façade end now and Wyatt die. Instead Melinda, take his place. Same girl inside, with different face. The memories as if she's always been, Let a new life now begin. 


End file.
